Veritatis Revelare
by Sela McGrane
Summary: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have nothing in common. They have always known this. On the other hand, Severus Snape might have a bit of truth up his sleeve that will prove them wrong. HP/DM/SS Family fic, no slash. Maybe one-shot, maybe not.


**Hey all! For those of you watching for "Antebellum" update, I am sorry for the delay, and I promise you will get an update soon. **

**I had this idea, and found myself compelled to write it down. I'm posting this as complete, but if enough interest is shown (aka, REVIEWS!) I will add this. I think it stands well enough as a oneshot, but if you don't agree, shoot me ideas, because I'm honestly not sure were to take this from here.**

**Usual disclaimers apply, I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Severus Snape would not have died. **

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><p>It was September again. With Voldemort gone, things were resuming to normal – well as normal as things ever could be at Hogwarts. Severus Snape was finally teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, without that meddlesome old fool, Albus Dumbledore, around any longer to tell him how.<p>

Not that Minerva McGonagall wasn't doing a fine job at meddling, in her own way; the Headmistress had taken it upon herself to assign Gryffindor and Slytherin for his double Defense class. _How cruel_, Severus thought.

It wasn't as bad as it would have been previous years. Normally, Slytherin and Gryffindor in a class together meant that the professor, him in this case, would have to deal with Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy going at it every five minutes. This year, the two young men had seemed to find a peace, however, and they more or less just ignored one another.

Rumor had it that Harry had saved Draco's life during the battle, but neither of them would admit to it. Friendship might have been possible for the Gryffindor and Slytherin, in Severus' opinion, but the house rivalries, albeit less tense now that Voldemort was gone, were still alive. Harry and Draco had more in common then either was willing to admit, especially now that Harry had taken a remarkable turn in his Potions making abilities.

Harry attributed his newfound skill to Slughorn's teaching, and they fact that he'd needed to learn certain potions while on the run last year. Dumbledore has once said 'necessity creates ability', and while Severus was certain this was true, he did not think it was the case in this instance, at least not entirely.

Severus had a hunch. A hunch that he'd had for eighteen years now, but up to this point had not been in a position to investigate. Before now, acting on his suspicion would have created more problems than not. Today he was going to do the first selfish thing he'd done since before Voldemort fell the first time.

Severus cleared his throat. "Stop chattering, and we will begin with today's class," he said in his monotone teacher-voice. "Have you all brought your birth certificates like I asked?"

The whole class nodded, a few students even raised the said document into the air. "Why'd we need these, sir?" one of the Gryffindor boys asked.

Severus sighed. A year ago no Gryffindor would have dared ask such a question. Now that they all knew he'd been a spy all along, they were much less fearful of him. This did not thrill him. "Today we will be learning a spell that will reveal if an official document is true or untrue. Aurors often use this spell when a suspect has given a written statement, to detect if said statement is a falsehood."

He paused, mostly for dramatic effect, but in part to prepare himself for truths that may be revealed today. "I asked you to bring your birth certificates to class because almost always, there is something incorrect on them. When you are born, you are weighed and measured, and this information is documented on the birth certificate. The certificate itself is an enchanted parchment designed to magically detect this information. Almost always there is a difference between what the Healers wrote down, and what the parchment detected. The spell I am about to teach you will detect those discrepancies."

Severus heard several students say things like 'cool', or 'neat', or other such things. "Shall we begin?" he inquired.

The student nodded again and Severus waited until they had all grown quite.

"The spell is V_eritatis__ R__evelare,_" Severus said. "Point your wand at the parchment, and say it. Anything incorrect will show up as blurry letters."

Severus looked at the students as each of them tried out the spell. Most of the students repeated their 'cool' or 'neat' mantras, and a few just gasped or giggled. Of the group, there were two boys who both just frowned at their parchments; Harry, and Draco.

"Oh shit," Severus muttered under his breath.

"Sir?" Draco said, raising his hand. "What happens if the spell is done incorrectly?"

"Nothing," Severus said crisply. "If you are looking at fuzzy letters, the information is incorrect."

"Bloody hell," Draco muttered, staring at his parchment in shock.

"Sir?" another voice said.

This time it was Harry. "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"Uh, how would one go about finding out what the correct information is?"

"The spell _corrigenda_ will correct any errors. And no, for those of you thinking it, this spell will not correct your homework so don't even try." Severus replied.

Severus' eyes flickered between Harry and Draco as both of them rapidly cast the _corrigenda_ spell. Moments later both green and grey eyes shot upward and caught his gaze.

He took a deep breath. _Both of them. Huh._ he thought. "Class dismissed," he snapped. "Homework: get yours hands on three other legal documents and practice the use of the spells you just learned. Also, read the information about them on page twenty-six of your textbooks. Two foot summery of the information is due first thing Monday."

The class scrambled about noisily and made a break for the door. It wasn't every day that Snape let his class out early, after all. It wouldn't do to give him a moment to change his mind. Severus took a seat at his desk, watching without surprise as neither Harry nor Draco got up to leave.

As the last of the other students left, Severus flicked his wand and the door closed. "Before either of you try to awkwardly broach the subject, why don't the three of us go into my quarters. It'll be more comfortable, and more private."

Severus watched as Harry and Draco looked at each other, both suddenly asking themselves if they had both discovered the same thing…and what that meant for them. Both followed Severus into his quarters and took a seat on his couch.

"You suspected, didn't you?" Draco asked, voice shaking more than he wished it was.

Severus nodded. "That you, both," he said, nodding towards Harry, "were my sons? Yes, I did. I was not certain, and until the Dark Lord was gone it was not worth the risks to find out for sure."

Harry gulped. All three knew that the elephant was now visibly in the room. Like Draco, the combination of spells they'd learned today had shown him that Severus Snape was his biological father.

"How…" Draco started. "We're just about the same age…what the hell were you doing bedding both our mothers at the same time?"

"Yeah," Harry squeaked, voicing his agreement with Draco's accusation.

Severus sighed. "Harry, you already know that I cared for your mother very much. We had a one night stand, the day before she married James. As I could only assume that James did indeed bed his new bride, I was never certain if you were mine, or his. I'm not even sure your mother ever knew one way or the other. We never spoke again after that night."

"And me?" Draco asked.

"I'm sorry to say that how you came to be is a less endearing story. Your mother and Lucius had been married almost ten years by the time you came along. As you know, Draco, Lucius and I have been friends for many years. He is like the older brother I never had. Your mother had been promised to him since they were children, yet your mother seemed to fancy me. One night I popped by the manor to see Lucius, a few months after my encounter with Lily, and your mother greeted me at the door, wand in hand, and hit me with the _Imperius_ curse. She bade me to sleep with her, knowing full well I would never tell her husband that I had betrayed him."

Draco rubbed his temples. "I very much wish I didn't believe you, but I know of at least one other instance my mother used that curse to bed someone."

Harry sighed. "So Draco and I…"

"Are brothers," Severus nodded. "Legally, you, Draco, are a Malfoy, and you, Harry, are a Potter. It will be totally up to you if you wish to change your surnames. If it makes you feel any better, I was once where you are now, finding out my father was not who I thought he was, and I chose to keep my name, as I was already a Professor here when I found out. I will not feel slighted in the least if either of you choose to do the same."

"Who is your real father?" Harry asked.

Severus smirked. "Can you think of the one person whose orders I would follow without question?"

Harry's eyes got wide. "Dumbledore?"

Severus nodded. "Indeed. He was aware that I suspected you two were my sons. That was a lot of the reason he was so keen on protecting you both."

Harry nodded in understanding, but Draco looked confused. "He didn't protect me."

Severus raised his eyebrow. "Why do you think Albus had me kill him, rather than you? Or how about the time Harry nearly sliced you in half two years ago? If Albus had not alerted me, I would not have known to come save you. Or when you took the Dark Mark, you must realize that Albus knew about that the day it happened, and could have expelled you and left you to be killed by the Dark Lord? Oh, he saved your ass more times than I can count."

Draco looked stunned. "I always thought it was just you…because you were friends with my…with Lucius."

"I fear I may sound cold here, Draco, and please don't take this to mean that I care about you any less than your brother, but you came along because I was forced to bed a woman I had no interest in. Harry came to be because I was in love with his mother, and she gave me the one night I asked for. Point being, over the last seven years, I've put most of my energy into protecting Harry, out of respect for his mother's memory, and out of necessity, since he was the one the Dark Lord kept trying to kill. I trusted Albus to keep an eye on you, and alert me if you ever needed help which I could provide."

Severus truly hoped that he was not making either of his sons feel more or less important. Truth of the matter was that he hadn't wanted to father either of them, but he had, and no matter what the circumstances were that brought them to be, he did love them. And with James Potter dead, and Lucius Malfoy locked up in Azkaban, both of them needed a father in their lives to help them transition between boys and men. And, as he had been brutally reminded when Voldemort had almost killed him, he did need an heir. Before Dumbledore's death, he'd had next to nothing for them to inherit, but now that he had inherited the small fortune of the former Headmaster, he really aught to arrange for it to go somewhere. _Who knows,_ Severus thought,_ perhaps if Harry and Draco both take my name, a hundred years from now Snape will become a respected Wizarding name. Wouldn't that be hilarious. _

Draco seemed to be deep in thought, but Harry spoke the last, lingering question. "So what now?"

Severus sighed. "That is entirely up to you two."

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


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